One of my favorite authors is Anne Tyler. Her books are subtle portraits of the idiosyncrasies, the eccentricities, the quirks and foibles found in every family. In Tyler’s novel, Back When We Were Grownups, she tells the story of a woman who becomes the hub of a large family that she has married into. She is so taken for granted that no one really knows her true feelings, or bothers to ask. They only know, or wish to know, that she is there for them. The woman has secrets, not because she is secretive, but because her family fails to see her as the complex being she really is. What kind of secrets? Could it be something about a leather or pink diaper bag? Or perhaps even tote diaper bags
or something off the wall like that? Yet I digress, I know. No more talk about diaper bags in this blog post, lol.
Another classic family story that was made into a movie is Ordinary People, by Judith Guest. Guest won the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize from the University of Rochester for the novel, and several years later, the book became a motion picture of the same name, directed by Robert Redford, that won the 1980 Academy Award for Best Picture.
In the story, the youngest son, Conrad Jarett tries to kill himself. He cannot live with the guilt that he survived a boating accident in which his brother died. His brother was his mother’s favorite, and she cannot hide her grief and anger that the favored son, the one who made her proud and made her laugh, died, and the son she could not relate to—survived.
The dynamics of family are powerful and mysterious. We all have experienced them in some form or another.
February 24, 2010
Anne Tyler and Family Quirks and Secrets
February 16, 2010
Some Presidents Have Been Extreme Pet Lovers
I just returned from Salt Lake City, writing time again. Beginning with George Washington, the ‘Father of Our Country’, who kept 36 hounds and 12 horses for his favorite sport of fox hunting, being an animal lover has been a common trait—almost a patriotic emblem—for past presidents.
Some of Washington’s horses had been with him since the Revolutionary War of the 1770’s. He gave them names such as Samson and Steady. Interestingly, the dogs had alcohol-related names, such as Tipsey and Drunkard. I am sure they had a good grooming service. Hank Pellissier wrote an article on the subject for the San Francisco Gate on February 16, 2004 called, All The Presidential Pets. Pellissiers says that George chased foxes on Sunday morning, instead of praying at church like his current smaller namesake in the White House because, like many original patriots, he was not a believer. This, says Pellissier, is according to Dr. Philip Schoenberg, a history professor at New York’s College of Aeronautics and owner of a Web site called “The Presidential Expert.” All in all, Pellissier’s fascinating article also notes that:
When old George contracted laryngitis in 1799, physicians attached more than 100 leeches to the great man’s torso — a common healing procedure at the time — and the vicious little bloodsuckers fatally drained all the life out of him.
Pellissier explains that Abe Lincoln had a, “… menagerie of cats, dogs, goats, ponies, etc…” Meanwhile, Calvin Coolidge loved dogs. He had a terrier, an Airedale, a bulldog, a Shetland sheepdog, a “police dog,” and a “bird dog. He also had two chow chows and three collies. He also owned canaries, a thrush, a mockingbird, a goose, a donkey, two house cats, a bobcat, and two raccoons! Speaking of this, if you need a superb salt lake city pet grooming then allow me to refer C & C, they are cuitting edge in the realm of cat board, doggie daytcare and the like. They are one of the top pet grooming services in all of the greater Salt lake City area overall.
Teddy Roosevelt was even more animal-crazy, although he was a hunter who killed thousands of animals in his time. Pellessier quotes Philip Schoenberg as saying, “Teddy had everything, even a pet cemetery at Sagamore Hill, his home on Long Island.” I am sure he had a good dog groomer too.
Roosevelt kept 12 horses, five dogs, five guinea pigs, two cats, garter snakes, a horned toad, a pony, two kangaroo rats, a flock of ducks, a flying squirrel, a badger, a pig and a blue macaw named Eli Yale. He probably had a great pet boarding services as well, I would wager to guess.